Russian Radio Sputnik Enters DC Market

Russian state-sponsored radio news outlet Sputnik has taken over a former bluegrass radio station in Washington, D.C., hoping to counter "constant attacks" by U.S. media companies that claim it is a propaganda tool of the Kremlin, The Hill reported Friday.

"We're glad to finally be able to directly address our listeners in Washington. During the last few months Sputnik Radio has become the target of constant attacks in the U.S. corporate media," said Mindia Gavasheli, editor-in-chief of Sputnik's D.C. bureau.

"Often the people who wrote or spoke about us didn't even bother to listen to our broadcasts first," he added.

Sputnik first launched in 2014 and made headlines last month when one of its U.S. correspondents, Andrew Feinberg, abruptly left, claiming it was spreading propaganda and wasn't interested in "real journalists."

Gavasheli said the presence in the local D.C. radio market would allow listeners to "hear our broadcasts instead of rumors about them."

Russian state-sponsored radio news outlet Sputnik has taken over a former bluegrass radio station in Washington, D.C., hoping to counter "constant attacks" by U.S. media companies that claim it is a propaganda tool of the Kremlin, The Hill reported Friday.